Page 10 - AsiaElec Week 08 2023

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec

Taiwan’s multinational offshore

wind reshuffle continues

JERA out, UK-French duo move in on Formosa III project off Taiwan

TAIWAN JAPAN’S largest power producer, JERA, last week in Taiwan,”
ditched its 44% stake in a major Taiwanese wind Vincent Stoquart, senior vice president of
farm, much to the surprise of industry analysts TotalEnergies’ Renewables Division, meanwhile
both inside Taiwan and overseas. referred to the new tie-up as “a new step toward
In reports from the region, the Japanese energy supporting Taiwan’s energy transition, bringing
giant announced plans to sell its share in a 2-GW sustainable, low-cost energy.”
project known as Formosa III. The Formosa III project is scheduled to come
The firm will still maintain its current interests in online sometime in 2026, at a cost of around $7.6bn.
the Formosa I and Formosa II projects, with their The offshore wind industry’s ins and outs in Tai-
combined 504 MW output. wanese waters don’t end with JERA pulling out of
The Formosa I site has been operational since one of its projects in Taiwan and being replaced by
2017, with the Formosa II site officially on schedule a British-French partnership.
to come online later this year. Leading Swedish developer Hexicon is also now
Sited off Changhua County on the west coast looking at offshore projects in Taiwan.
of Taiwan, in the waters of the highly contentious The Stockholm-based floating wind farm
Taiwan Strait, the Formosa III site is a crucial part specialists are reported to be interested in a
of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s recently 1.3-GW floating offshore site, and by working
announced plans to have the nation achieve net- with the Dutch project managers of the site, IX
zero by 2050. Wind, they are looking to install their twin rotor
Prior to JERA’s pullout, Japanese sources referred platforms.
to the region’s geopolitical risks as posed by Chi- No details have yet been released on an actual
nese territorial claims as playing a part in the firm’s location of the site in question, although it will
decision. almost certainly be sited on Taiwan’s more pro-
Other issues understood to have prompted tected west coast; the island nation’s less developed
JERA’s withdrawal include Taiwanese authorities east coast is regularly battered by passing typhoons
requiring increased material purchases from the between the late summer and early winter each
domestic market in Taiwan and decreasing feed-in year.
tariff (FiT) rates. Reports do already cite a target date of 2028,
Approval was quickly given for the sale by Tai- though, for the provisionally titled 1,300-MW Hex-
wanese authorities, although an actual value and icon-IX Wind project to come online.
subsequent buyer names were only revealed later Hexicon has already produced the TwinWind
to be the UK firm Corio Generation and its France- semi-submersible twin rotor platform, which fea-
based counterpart TotalEnergies. tures a single mooring point topped by a pair of
Together, Corio and TotalEnergies are two of the wind turbines rather than just one.
offshore wind industry’s leading lights. No comment has been made by the company as
Corio CEO Jonathan Cole said of the deal: “[we] to whether this would be the type of turbine used
are thrilled to welcome TotalEnergies as our part- off Taiwan, but by partnering with IX Wind, the
ner in building offshore wind farms in Taiwan. Our Swedish newcomers to Taiwanese waters will ben-
two companies have a long-standing relationship efit from over a decade of local experience; IX Wind
and strong track record in developing projects has been operational in the country since 2012, and
across Europe and the Asia-Pacific, and so we are was part of the team behind Taiwan’s first offshore
absolutely delighted to be working together again wind facility.™

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